Local Ownership Helps Reduce Electric Bill Costs
CFU provides power to customers two ways; purchasing electricity from the regional energy market or generating electricity.
Today, most of the electricity we provide to customers is purchased through a regional energy market. The energy generated by nearly all wind turbines, solar panels and fuel-dependent plants in Iowa flows into the energy market pool.
Our community is fortunate to benefit from abundant wind energy in our region. This makes the regional energy market largely renewable and the most cost effective choice for CFU customers on most days.
When Wind Energy Is Not Available
When wind generation is unavailable, our region depends on fuel-based power plants. During extreme cold, natural gas demand and prices often spike, making this generation more expensive. On these days, prices in the regional energy market can become extremely high.
CFU customers benefit from our locally owned generating assets. CFU maintains our local Streeter Station power plant, natural gas turbines and solar array. In addition, CFU owns shares of large power plants in western Iowa.
These all allow CFU to reduce the amount of energy we must buy when market prices are extremely high, helping to control electric utility bill costs for our customers.
What's Next
Maintaining local generation helps keep rates low and the lights on. However, these assets are aging. As we look to the future, CFU will continue to need traditional generation to provide reliable, affordable energy when renewables are not available.
CFU is advancing plans to build a new energy center in Cedar Falls. The Viking Energy Center will be located south of Viking Road and east of Union Road in the Industrial Park and will take several years to construct.
The energy center will be equipped to ramp up or down quickly to meet demand and adjust to the renewable energy supply. Additionally, the technology is more efficient and produces lower emissions levels than our existing power plants.
The new Viking Energy Center will enable CFU to deliver the next generation of energy — sustainable, reliable and affordable — positioning us for a strong future. Learn more at cfu.net/generation.